1991 NY Times report, European bureaucrats dream up holier than thou reason to steal money from people who are productive. They sell the idea to US politicians who are always eager to sell out American citizens.

The European Commission, the community's executive body, asked its 12 member nations to begin debate on proposals that would put a surcharge of$10 a barrel on oil by the end of the century (2000), and surcharges of $14 for equivalent amounts of coal and $5 for nuclear power....